Live Coverage of Hillary Clinton’s Vice President Announcement

By: Carmen Russo

CRANSTON, R.I. – Latino Public Radio broadcasted live coverage of Hillary Clinton’s first appearance with her newly announced running mate, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine. The presumptive Democratic nominee introduced Kaine, a fellow Democrat and former governor of Virginia, during a rally Saturday at Florida International University in Miami.

LPR broke the news Friday afternoon that Kaine would be the likely pick for vice president. On the same day, Kaine attended a fundraiser hosted by U.S. Senator Jack Reed at the Newport shipyard. After Reed dismissed inquiries about Kaine and an event scheduled for Kaine in Nantucket was canceled, LPR’s Reynaldo Almonte assumed Kaine would be announced as Clinton’s running mate.  An hour before the official announcement on Saturday, Almonte and Dr. Pablo Rodriguez discussed Kaine’s potential as Clinton’s pick for vice president. Kaine is a fluent Spanish speaker and spent time as a missionary in Honduras, which could help Clinton and the Democratic Party gain more support from Latino communities. They also discussed his experience and accomplishments as a mayor and governor in Virginia.

When Clinton took the stage around 1:00 p.m., LPR translated the live speech to Spanish. As Clinton praised her new running mate, she called him “a progressive who likes to get things done” and someone who is “everything Donald Trump and Mike Pence are not.” She spoke about Kaine as an advocate for gun control, voting rights, LGBTQ equality, criminal justice reform and immigration reform.

Kaine began his speech in Spanish, which was met with enthusiastic cheers from the crowd. He credited his skills and accomplishments in government to starting at the local level and being a listener. Kaine also echoed Clinton’s criticisms of Trump.

“From Atlantic City to his so-called university, [Trump] leaves a trail of broken promises and wrecked lives wherever he goes,” Kaine said of the Republican nominee.

Tune into LPR on 1290 AM and follow @LPRRI on Twitter for continued election coverage. Updates will also be available on lprnoticias.com.